Dome-shaped webs are built by egg-carrying members of the species. pluchei build two types of webs, curved prey-capture sheets to capture prey and dome-shaped webs. This allows larger males to have a competitive advantage when stealing food from females’ webs. For females, however, the extra molt that they sometimes undergo when the food supply is low increases their size. Since larger individuals often steal food from smaller individuals, females that were raised under low-food conditions have a competitive advantage. In a group setting, size determines prey consumption, as the largest spider that detects the prey wins the prey about 80% of the time. Because food is limited in a natural habitat, increased food level significantly decreases development time of the spider from egg to adult and increases size, especially in males. Holocnemus pluchei prey on various species of insects, including fruit flies, houseflies, and damselflies. Some members of the species live in groups, and although this incurs an additional cost of decreased food per spider, it also allows each spider to expend less energy in producing silk for the web. This species primarily inhabits warm terrain, spaces below rocks, caves, and basement areas. It builds its web under rocks, in basements, or on walls of buildings. It is now commonly found in Southern California, and is considered an urban pest. It may have been introduced to the North Pacific region of the United States in the mid-1900s.

The marbled cellar spider is native to the Mediterranean area of Europe and Northern Africa. caudatus, found in Spain and Sicily, and H. pluchei belongs to the genus Holocnemus, which contains just two other species, H. Holocnemus pluchei belongs to the family Pholcidae, which contains over 1800 species, including multiple types of 'daddy long-legs'. Phylogeny Holocnemus pluchei, museum specimen Both females and males have stridulatory organs of the type where the pedipalp rubs against the chelicera, and no morphological differences in these organs have been observed between the sexes. Females also have a sternum projection, which is thought to play an important role in mate selection by improving females’ control over copulation. Females have swollen pedipalps that resemble the pedipalps of a male before his final molt. Immature members of the species resemble adults. pluchei have long fragile legs with black and white circles around the joints. Males and females of the species are approximately the same size, with males ranging between 5–7 mm and females ranging between 5-7.5 mm.

pluchei, females also possess stridulatory organs, and both sexes engage in stridulation. pluchei is that while in many species of spiders, stridulation commonly occurs by males during sexual encounters, in H. Although some members of the species live in solitary webs, the majority join already existing webs and migrate to new webs multiple times throughout the course of their lives. It is considered a common household spider and builds its nest in attics, basements, and eaves of houses. Holocnemus pluchei, commonly known as the marbled cellar spider, is a species of Pholcidae, a family commonly referred to as 'cellar spiders' or 'daddy long-legs'. This species is distributed across the North Pacific region of the United States, as well as in parts of North Africa, Europe, and the Mediterranean.

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